Halloween means orange pumpkins, supermarket aisles of ‘scary’ costumes, trick or treating and getting high on e numbers (or drunk on slime-themed vodka jelly, depending on your poison of choice), right? Well, yes, but there’s more to it than that.
These days American-style Halloween celebrations have been exported around the world, with most of us buying (quite literally) into them – it’s where history meets pop culture. On the surface, it’s about fake blood and sweets, but it’s rooted in very real, ancient pagan mystical ideas.
Yep, Halloween goes back to the ancient Celtic festival ‘Samhain’. On the night before, All Hallows’ Eve, it was believed that the dead returned to earth and people left food and drink out for them. Over time, the two have merged to become Halloween as we know it. It’s a mishmash of age-old superstitions, folklore and modern myths.
Indeed, in some countries around the world (Mexico, for example) such traditions are still very much alive and are celebrated on a bigger scale than US Halloween, while in others (like Malawi) it’s a relatively new thing. Halloween in the UK isn’t really much more than an excuse to do what you normally do (ie get drunk) in fancy dress (I’m going as a unicorn), but, how do young women around the world celebrate it?
Catie Ginsberg, 26, New York, USA
First up, America, the home of Halloween. Catie says, ‘It’s my favourite holiday. Everyone gets involved, everyone has fun.’
‘Every year in New York, there’s a big parade through the East Village. There are always celebrities and it can get super raunchy, before it devolves into a massive party. The police dress up, everyone gets into it!’
When was Catie’s favourite Halloween? ‘Hold on, I have so many good ones’, she says before going quiet for about five minutes. ‘I’m thinking hard here. I went to this placed called Secret Project Robot and partied all night.’
And her favourite costume? ‘There are two actually,’ she tells me excitedly. ‘Last year, I was a wizard, full on beard, everything! My joint first best was when I was like 10, my mum made it for me, I was a Twister board.’
‘This year I want to dress up as Austin Powers – but I’m still on the lookout for a perfect crushed velvet suit.’
Jade Foster, 26, The Isle of Man, UK
A bit closer to home and there’s a tradition you might not know about. ‘Hop tu naa’ is the Manx word for Halloween. ‘It’s a bit like Hogmanay,’ Jade tells me. ‘It’s believed that it comes from the Celtic new year, which was at this time of year when the farming season had finished, the harvest had been gathered and nights were getting shorter. Everyone had something to celebrate.’
She says, ‘Over the years it’s taken on some spookier elements. We do trick or treating, as you might expect, but we carve turnips, not pumpkins.’
Turnips?! ‘Turnip carving is really popular’, Jade says. ‘We have the odd pumpkin, but its mostly turnips – we call them moots. People here would be like, ’Don’t even talk about pumpkins, that’s American. It’s got to be a turnip and you’ve got to struggle carving it!’
Anything else we might not know? ‘We go around singing songs, mostly about Jinny the Witch. She was put on trial for witchcraft on the Isle of Man in the early 18th century and found guilty, but she was sent to jail and not killed. She’s become the stuff of legend.’
What will Jade be doing this year? ‘I'm spending Hop tu naa night with my girlfriend. We’re having a traditional dinner of fish with parsnip mash followed by ginger biscuits. Then, we’ll be watching scary ’90s movies.’
Sachiyo Adachi, 30, Tokyo, Japan
‘In Japan we actually have a festival called Obon in August, from the 13th to 16th,’ Sachiyo tells me. ‘It’s related to our way of thinking based on our religion that we must take really good care of our ancestors’ souls.’
So how does Sachiyo celebrate Obon? ‘We don’t actually do much. We have a family reunion. We believe that our ancestors’ souls are coming home, so we put up lanterns to welcome them and place flowers in front of household altars at our home.’
Do they also do American-style Halloween? ‘Obon is similar to Halloween, which is interesting, although we don’t dress up. Halloween is relatively new in Japan, it’s become more popular recently though, maybe in the last 5-10 years, especially among young people in big cities. There are some parades in places like Tokyo and Kanagawa.’
What’s Sachiyo doing this year? ‘I went to Tokyo Disneyland for a party and on the 31st, I’ll go to Roppongi district (area of Tokyo with nightclubs) or Shibuya.’
**Konzekerani Chigwenembe, 21, Blantaire, Malawi **
Over in Malawi, Kozenkerani tells me, ‘Halloween is not generally celebrated here. People in Malawi are relatively quite religious and they would consider Halloween a pagan celebration. However, our younger generation that is exposed to movies is bringing up the tradition.’
She says there’s nothing else like it because it’s not really the done thing ‘to celebrate the dead’.
So what do people dress up as for Halloween? ‘Well, just the usual easy things. Frankenstein, zombies, etc. Since Halloween isn’t really celebrated, it’s hard to be creative.’
And what do they do? ‘There’s no trick or treating, just extra extra drinking, partying and costumes.’
What’s Konzekerani’s plan this year? ‘I’ll probably attend one of the parties around here. I’ll be going as Cleopatra. Last year, I was going for the hot witch look, but I didn’t get hold of a hat.’
**Livy Galvan, 25, Mexico City, Mexico **
You may have heard about Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos), a Mexican festival dating back to Aztec times which honours the dead.
‘Most Mexicans do it,’ Livy tells me. ‘We build a shrine to our ancestors who have passed away. We build altars with our families and we offer up the meals that our loved ones liked the most. Also drinks, their pictures and a special flower called cempasúchil.’
She continues, ‘Day of the Dead is 1 November, not 31 October. Young people my age do Halloween on the 31st and then celebrate on the 1st as well. The 2nd is Day of the Saints. I have three outfits most years, I love it!’
What does she dress up as? ‘We have this tradition that we paint our faces like La Calavera Catrina and put flowers in our hair. Sort of like a skeleton Lana del Rey!’ she laughs.
‘The whole country is like a big celebration. We have this candy, it’s a sugar skull which we decorate. Recently things have been a bit more American – we have trick or treating from the 28th to the 2nd.’
So what’s it like in Mexico city on Day of the Dead? ‘It’s very lively. Everybody goes out and you can see all kinds of costumes, there are loads of parties. If it’s a weekday, it’s a public holiday. I don’t think many countries celebrate death like we do – we are Catholics, so we don’t see it as something dark or like a bad thing.
‘We see it as a way of trying to honour our loved ones. They would have liked to have fun and be happy. We don’t do funerals in a sad way either, it’s a celebration of life as well!’
And this year? ‘Every year we throw a party. My mum’s a big fan of Frida Kahlo, so sometimes we have an altar to her. Last year I was Cleopatra for Halloween, but I don’t know what I will be this year yet!’
**Olivia Benaroche, 24, Montreal, Canada **
What about Canada? ‘It’s not too different from other parts of the world’, Olivia says. ‘A lot of young drunken people. A lot of people go to After Hours, which is a club that opens at 3am and then stays open all day.’
‘Halloween is big here. People will go to work dressed up, just go about their normal day fully dressed in a bunny suit or whatever.’
‘Montreal is definitely very festive though, we get into it! Everybody dresses up but there’s not as much emphasis on the horror aspect here, a lot of people are more interested in finding things that are funny or will get attention on social media, not really going as scary or horrifying creatures.’
And this year? ‘A lot of people will try and go for sarcastic costumes and reference contemporary issues, like dressing ironically. I won’t be surprised to see a lot of Donald Trumps this year. People do dress up to try and make a statement.’
**Porsche Poon, 26, Hong Kong **
According to traditional Chinese beliefs, the seventh month of the lunar calendar is when spirits roam the earth. In August every year Yu Lan (or Hungry Ghost Festival) is celebrated and people worship their ancestors. They make efforts to ‘feed’ them by making offerings of food and fake money.
However, Halloween is also celebrated. Porsche tells me, ‘In Hong Kong, it’s more like a festival. Everyone goes out. We don’t do trick or treating, it’s more about dressing crazy.’
Where does everyone go? ‘We all go to Lang Kwai Fong. It’s kind of like our Soho. All the bars are open for it and the traffic is stopped in the streets.’
And what do they do? ‘Basically it’s getting wasted. There’s also a thing in Ocean Park, which is like our Disneyland, they have haunted houses and things like that; you either go to Lang Kwai Fong or Ocean Park.’
He says, ‘Halloween is great for me because the gay culture in Hong Kong isn’t that big, but at Halloween there’s a big show at the only gay club and it’s good fun.’
So what’s Porsche up to this year? ‘This year, I’m not doing anything – just working!’
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.